I have some pepper plantsthat are doing great, but I have no idea what they are. When I was buying seeds for habaneros and cayenne, my wife reminded me that one of the packs that I grabbed, and apparently planted, was labelled “Hot Peppers”. That’s it. No scientif name, no listing on the back, nothing.
They are marvelous producers, the peppers growing like crazy and unbelievably fast. They are growing straight down, straight up, sideways, straight as an arrow to complete circles, corkscrews, etc. One recently started to ripen (maybe?) and went from green to bronze which today has turned (see pic) um… burgundy? A very odd color that I’ve never seen on a pepper. The closest things seem to be Anaheims or New Mexicos, but the surface texture is quite different. The few sites I’ve found don’t seem to show anything similar to these things.
I also grow cayennes and there is a big difference between the two, even in the leaves. I’m hoping to find out what they are so that I know when the best time for picking is. I’d hate to wait until they all change color only to find that I should have used them green.
I decided to try some pepper varieties from the supermarket the other day. But I confess I didn’t know how to prepare them other than chop up into small pieces, and test the hotness before putting in foods.
But one of the links in this thread talks about “harred, steamed, and peeled before using” as preparation. What is the purpose of that, and did I do something wrong by just chopping them up? I put them in some chicken fajitas and they tasted great.
I was using yellow sweet banana peppers and red finger peppers (or at least that was what the grocery called them). The yellow ones were not hot at all.
A long time ago I had a mexican girlfriend who used to char tomatoes on the gas stove then peel the skins before using them in cooking. That sounds like the pepper preparation mentioned above. What’s the point of that?
And RE pepper identification: The City Wok chinese takeout in Los Angeles, where I used to live, made a “City Wok Beef” dish with glazed beef strips and some kind of tiny peppers. They were about 1-2" long, flattened, whole, red, and so hot I had to cut them up first. What kind were these?
I believe the mysterious pepper in question is a serrano. I have grown them and they often go purple as they mature. They are highly useable in either color!
Regarding the City Wok dish, they looked like they were dried before use. Was this for flavor reasons or storage convenience? That is, if fresh serrano or chilacas are available, would they be preferable to dried ones or not?
I’m still puzzled by the preparation requirements, if any.
I have an excellent book by Roger Phillips simply called Vegetables; the closest match I can find is a variety called (rather unimaginatively) 'Red Chili" - the picture shows variously curved, slightly puckered long thin fruits, one of which is distinctly purple in parts.
Musicat, I believe preparation has mostly to do with personal or cultural (or “my grandma said so”) taste, combined with accomodating the differences in varieties. Some varieties of peppers, like some varieties of tomatoes, have skins that go all nasty and plasticky when you cook them; some people mind this more than others. Charring them (or doing other things like parboiling them) first can make them easier to peel, as well as affect the flavor.
Likewise seeds: they’re often the hottest part, so if what you want is more chile flavor and less capsaiscin, removing the seeds makes sense; or maybe you don’t want their crunchy little textures in your dish.
In any case I don’t believe anyone peels or seeds or steams peppers or tomatoes because of any toxicity or anything.
And drying vs. fresh: some chiles taste different each way, but both good sometimes. Some flavors get concentrated in drying, while others go stale. Chipotles (smoked red jalapenos) tate darn good dried.
Don’t have a cite handy, but I think there are supposedly thousands on thousands of different cultivars of chile peppers, and a lot of variables in growing that affect final outcomes, even if you know the variety. Sun and water make a big difference. So it’s possible no one will be able to positively ID yours, Turbo Dog. If they taste good, I’d probably save some seeds for next year and name them after yourself.
Musicat, I believe preparation has mostly to do with personal or cultural (or “my grandma said so”) taste, combined with accomodating the differences in varieties. Some varieties of peppers, like some varieties of tomatoes, have skins that go all nasty and plasticky when you cook them; some people mind this more than others. Charring them (or doing other things like parboiling them) first can make them easier to peel, as well as affect the flavor.
Likewise seeds: they’re often the hottest part, so if what you want is more chile flavor and less capsaicin, removing the seeds makes sense; or maybe you don’t want their crunchy little textures in your dish.
In any case I don’t believe anyone peels or seeds or steams peppers or tomatoes because of any toxicity or anything.
And drying vs. fresh: some chiles taste different each way, but both good sometimes. Some flavors get concentrated in drying, while others go stale. Chipotles (smoked red jalapenos) tate darn good dried.
Don’t have a cite handy, but I think there are supposedly thousands on thousands of different cultivars of chile peppers, and a lot of variables in growing that affect final outcomes, even if you know the variety. Sun and water make a big difference. So it’s possible no one will be able to positively ID yours, Turbo Dog. If they taste good, I’d probably save some seeds for next year and name them after yourself.
Musicat, I believe preparation has mostly to do with personal or cultural (or “my grandma said so”) taste, combined with accomodating the differences in varieties. Some varieties of peppers, like some varieties of tomatoes, have skins that go all nasty and plasticky when you cook them; some people mind this more than others. Charring them (or doing other things like parboiling them) first can make them easier to peel, as well as affect the flavor.
Likewise seeds: they’re often the hottest part, so if what you want is more chile flavor and less capsaicin, removing the seeds makes sense; or maybe you don’t want their crunchy little textures in your dish.
In any case I don’t believe anyone peels or seeds or steams peppers or tomatoes because of any toxicity or anything.
And drying vs. fresh: some chiles taste different each way, but both good sometimes. Some flavors get concentrated in drying, while others go stale. Chipotles (smoked red jalapenos) tate darn good dried.
Don’t have a cite handy, but I think there are supposedly thousands on thousands of different cultivars of chile peppers, and a lot of variables in growing that affect final outcomes, even if you know the variety. Sun and water make a big difference. So it’s possible no one will be able to positively ID yours, Turbo Dog. If they taste good, I’d probably save some seeds for next year and name them after yourself.
Turbo Dog, you appear to be growing either Cayenne or Chilaca peppers. Please compare with the images at this site and let us know what you think. How hot are the chiles?
Musicat, you did nothing “wrong.”
Peppers can be prepared in almost any way imaginable. Fresh, roasted, pickled, stewed, baked and so forth. Here’s a link to the Salsa 101 tutorial in my recipe thread.
Many chiles have a rather tough exterior membrane. Charring the peppers ahead of time separates the interior flesh from the skin. The heating process also begings to convert sugars in the fruit, giving it a nice carmelized flavor. Many peppers benefit from this roasting process.
Charring tomatoes is a quick way to remove their skins. Another method is to make a slit or two at the bottom of the tomato and drop it into boiling water for one minute. Just like with chiles, the skin will be loosened by the heat and easier to peel. Charring tomatoes also softens them a bit, which can be desireable for some preparations. There is a slight flavor shift as noted above, but not so dramatic as in the case of the chiles.
The small red peppers you had at the Chinese restaurant were either Thai or Dutch (Holland) chiles. They are extremely hot peppers and favored by many Asian cultures. These small incendiary missiles have an especially transparent flavor that does not mask many common Chinese spices. You may wish to try some minced red Jalapeño, Fresno or mirasol chiles instead. To reduce the heat, be sure to remove all of the seeds and membranes from the pepper’s interior. Be sure to sweat the chiles before adding them into your dish.
Feel free to post any other questions that you might have here or in the recipe thread. I’ll be happy to share whatever knowledge I have with you. There are several other salsa recipes listed in the Recipe Thread’s Active Index. You may wish to give them a try sometime.
Again, I am growing Cayennes next to this plant. They are not Cayenne. I have found several sites with different pics of Chilacas and they don’t match up. The textures of the skins aren’t close. They are not Anaheims or any other New Mex chili that I’m aware of. Some of these peppers are nearing 7 inches long, on a 20 inch plant. Also, as of right now, the burgundy is beginning to turn crimson red.
I am a chili head and know many peppers by sight. These plants are confusing the hell out of me. I picked a very small and obviously unripe one a bit ago and tasted it. It has incredible flavor but zero heat, but the heat value can change a lot depending on age of a pod. Still searching for something that makes sense. All I can think of is that it is some some sort of New Mex variety that I am unaware of.
Zenster, glad to see the posting problem has been fixed and you’re back in this thread.
How do you sweat chiles? (Gringo here)
I never heard of peeling a tomato until my Mexican gf made a mess on the stove charring them. In Italian cooking, I don’t belive tomato skins are removed. The only place it seems a good idea would be as slices over a hamburger, where it seems like when I take a bite, the tomato skin doesn’t get severed and stays connected to the sammich! I always thought it was my crooked teeth.
So if I bought random chiles and peppers from the market, removed seeds and interior membranes, finely chopped the remainder, and testing for hotness first, added the result to a dish, that’s an acceptable way to cook? Or would I be missing some huge flavor bonus compared to some other, more complex methods?
Musicat, preparing onions entails one of the most common forms of “sweating” vegetables. Onions produce sulfuric acid as a natural defense and this needs to be neutralized before they are added to a lot of foods. Bringing chopped onions to a near frying temperature for five to ten minutes accomplishes this. It is easy to see when the effect occurs because the onions become slightly transparent. They also will give off some liquid, hence the term, “sweating.” Strange as it might seem, onions are rather sweet. This dulcet flavor is usually masked by their acidic nature. However, the sweetness can be brought out by continuing a few steps past sweating. Continued cooking at below frying temperatures will eventually carmelize the sugars and begin to brown the onions without blackening them.
For Mexican salsas, it is important to only sweat the onions and never brown them. An important distinction to make is between salsas, which are cooked and the classic Mexican relish, pico de gallo, which is served raw. Recipes for both of these tasty condiments can be found by clicking on the links in my previous post. I suggest starting with the salsa casera recipe. It is modeled after a commercial brand made by Herdez, which I consider to be one of the more authentic salsas on the market. You can compare your results with the store bought product in order to gain insight about your technique. After that, I’d suggest trying the pico de gallo recipe as well. Each of these preparations have different characters and will lend a distinctive flavor to the dishes you use them in.
Raw chiles can be added to salads and stir fried vegetables. They will carry a noticeable heat with them. Longer cooking times tend to diffuse their flavor throughout the dish and mellow any fire that they have. Chiles may be sweated as well. This is usually done by charring over a flame or roasting them under a broiler. All of this is covered in my Salsa 101 link above. Feel free to email me or post any other questions you have right here or in the recipe thread. (Please don’t post in the Active Index.) I hope this helps.
Both salsa de molcajete and salsa fresca, which are as authentic as any salsa, are uncooked. “Salsa” implies no more than the name implies–that the substance being refered to is a sauce.
